


He's A Wonderful Gem

by CaptainJZH



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Depression, Gen, Guardian Angel, Homeworld is Horrible, It's a Wonderful Life, Self-Worth Issues, Steven is sad, Winter, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-17 02:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16966098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJZH/pseuds/CaptainJZH
Summary: Steven wishes he was never born, and gets help from a familiar face.





	1. Chapter 1

Steven ran as fast as he could down the snowy highway. It was freezing, and all he had taken with him was his hoodie, but he could barely feel the cold as his feet took him farther and farther from Beach City. Greg and Connie and the Gems were probably out looking for him, especially at this hour.

 

_ That’s a lie,  _ a nagging voice in the back of his head told him.  _ They’re probably all happy that you’re gone. And good riddance, too. _

 

His heart sank into the pit of his stomach as he began to actually listen to the voice, believing it to be  _ right  _ for once. After hours of running, his legs finally gave out and the boy collapsed into the snow. 

 

_ I’ll just stay here and freeze,  _ Steven thought.

 

_ Then I can’t ruin anything else. _

 

———

 

Rose heard herself gasp as she watched the events unfold. She sat amongst an infinity of pink clouds, staring up into a large parting in the sky which revealed that pentagonal outline of Steven’s gem— formerly  _ her  _ gem —showing Steven’s life as it unfolded. 

 

It had shown her everything that had happened since her son’s birth. His witnessing of the Crystal Gems’ grief since her departure, his joyful optimism being slowly worn down by responsibility…

 

A bad day for Steven was an even worse day for Rose, who could only watch, powerless. There were some things she could affect, like summoning her old room when he needed it, for instance, but never as much as she wanted to. She could feel his glee when he was happy, and she could feel his pain when he was sad. 

 

And right now, Rose could feel a  _ lot  _ of pain.

 

It had been building for a while, now. Ever since Bismuth had confronted Steven with the Breaking Point, followed by the incidents with Jasper and Eyeball, the boy’s depression had worsened, with hardly a soul noticing. He simply slapped on a happy face, ignoring the guilt and the anxiety and the fear of failure that festered within him, until it all became too great to handle.

 

It came to a head that night. It was Connie’s birthday, oddly enough, and never before had Steven felt so...empty. He acted excited, he even thought he was excited, but he didn’t  _ feel  _ excited. About anything. 

 

Connie decided to have her party at the Temple this year, considering it held more space than her own house. Everyone was going to be there— her parents, Greg, Jeff, Peedee, a good chunk of Beach City (Pearl had handled the invitations, which may or may not have been a mistake depending on how you look at it) —which normally Steven would have  _ loved… _ But he hadn’t exactly been feeling “normal” lately. Still, he tossed on a smile and a good attitude and went on with the night like normal.

 

The thing that made the facade quickly crumble, however, was the presence of Connie’s mom. Steven had nothing against Connie’s mom, but seeing the mother and daughter sing happy birthday together, eat cake together, talk together… It sucked, and it showed as he sat glumly at the kitchen counter. Connie noticed, and went up to help him.

 

“Steven? Are you...?”

 

“I’m  _ fine,”  _ Steven insisted, a negative undertone sneaking through his voice.

 

“Steven…”

 

_ “I said I’m fine!”  _ Steven snapped, gaining the attention of the entire party. 

 

_ Great,  _ he thought,  _ now I embarrassed my best friend at her own party.  _

 

“Enjoy your birthday…” he muttered as the silent crowd watched on, sliding down from his perch and making a beeline for the door. Greg quickly ran after him, but the boy was long gone by the time he got out the door.

 

As Steven lay in the snow several hours later, Rose found herself pacing the pink expanse.

 

“What do I do, what do I do?” she frantically asked the nothingness, “My son is lying semi-unconscious in the snow and  _ I can’t do anything about it!” _

 

Rose groaned in frustration, worriedly looking up at the “sky” for signs of movement.

 

_ “Someone  _ should be able to do something! He needs to hear that he’s loved, he  _ needs  _ to, but won’t listen to Greg or the Gems or his friends...he probably wouldn’t even listen to  _ me.  _ Stars know that much. He just needs to be told by…” Rose paused, realizing that she had an idea.

 

_ “By someone he doesn’t know!” _

 

It was just crazy enough to work. Pearl could create those holographic Pearls of hers, after all. If Rose could just muster enough concentration and energy, she could use Steven’s gem to do the same, right? Either way, it was worth a shot.

 

It was a good thing Steven didn’t know she was Pink Diamond yet.

 

———

 

Steven was so cold he could barely feel his hands or feet. He didn’t even notice his gem light up, projecting a tall figure who stood a few yards from the roadside, along the cliff that overlooked the bay.

 

“Holy crud, that actually worked,” the figure muttered before calling out in Steven’s direction.

 

“HELP!” she shouted, “I’m falling and I can’t stop myself so I require the assistance of someone nearby! Please, help!”

 

Steven could hear the call for help ring in his ears. He blinked his eyes open and saw a person about to fall off the cliffside, into the rocky sea below. Momentarily forgetting his despair, he forced himself up out of the snow and ran as fast as he could towards the figure. 

 

“Oh no!” she shrieked, “I can no longer maintain my balance!  _ Catch me!” _

 

Steven leaped forward and grabbed the woman’s arm, pulling her away from the edge and to safety.

 

“Thank you, Steven,” the woman said, standing up. She wore a hood and a trenchcoat, shielding the details of her face from the boy. 

 

“Are you okay?” Steven asked, worried for the mysterious woman.

 

“Oh I’m  _ fine,”  _ she said, “But are  _ you _ okay? A boy like you being out in the cold like this?”

 

Steven felt himself shiver as he awkwardly pulled his hoodie tighter, in a vain attempt to regain warmth. 

 

“C’mon,” the woman said, gesturing to a diner down the road, “Let’s get inside.”

 

Steven didn’t know why, but he felt comforted by the woman’s presence, despite having to save her only moments before. He could have swore she sounded familiar, but he shook those thoughts away as he took her hand.

 

“What’s your name?” Steven asked her.

 

She paused for a moment, before recalling the name of one of Steven’s friends that she rather liked the sound of. It was uncreative, she admitted, but it worked.

 

“P.D.”


	2. Chapter 2

_ “Jeezum Crow,” _ the waitress in the diner remarked as Steven and “PD” trotted into the restaurant, “What the heck were you two doing out there? It’s freezing out there!”

 

“Oh!” PD blurted out, being very out of practice with human interaction after 14 years. “I, uh, found this boy who I did not know previously out in the snow. Do you have any warm food for him? He likes fries!”

 

The waitress quickly nodded and rushed into the kitchen to fetch the shivering boy some food.

 

“Let’s sit down, Steven,” she said, gesturing to a booth.

 

“Hey, uh, h-how do you know my name?” Steven asked, quickly warming up under the heat vent.

 

“Oh, erm…” PD struggled as the waitress delivered a platter of fries.

 

“It’s on the house,” the waitress said with a sympathetic smile, before returning to the front counter.

 

“And why can’t I see your face?”

 

“Uh, sure! Nothing to hide there!” she said, turning the front of her hood away for a moment to hide the flash of her appearance changing slightly. She then pulled down the hood, revealing a poofy bush of pinkish-red hair and a face of pinkish-tan skin (best human-like colors she could manage on short notice). Steven didn’t think anything of the woman’s appearance, except for one, fairly noticeable thing.

 

“What’s up with your eyes?” Steven asked.

 

PD froze in place as she quickly blinked, replacing her pink, Diamond eyes with...green eyes? Was that a human eye color?

 

“What eyes, Steven?” she replied. Steven paused for a moment, before returning to his original question.

 

“You...still  _ have  _ eyes, though.”

 

PD just gave an awkward smile and a shrug.

 

“And how do you know my name?!” Steven asked, raising his voice. The people in the diner looked over at him, returning to their meals a moment afterwards. “Sorry, uh, it’s been a rough night.”

 

“Yes, I guessed” PD nodded, “But you can’t just run away from your problems.”

 

“I wasn’t running—!” Steven raised his voice yet again before quieting back down. “Okay maybe I was…”

 

“Nothing good ever came from leaving your family behind. Except maybe Cookie Cats, of course.”

 

“Cookie Cats?” Steven perked up, the semblances of a smile appearing on his face. “I’m surprised I’m not the only one who remembers them.”

 

“They tasted amazing didn’t they?”

 

“Yeah!” he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

 

“The chocolate outside?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

“With the creamy inside?”

 

“Yeah!!!”

 

“It’s no wonder just tasting one made you summon your shield!”

 

Steven’s smile dropped as quickly as it formed, as he was reminded of his mother, and the Gems who were probably worried sick for him.

 

“How do you know about that?” Steven asked point-blank.

 

“Well the answer to that is…” PD trailed off as she thought of something to say. “It’s that just, uh…”

 

She looked up at the lamp above her, which looked a tad like a halo, and was reminded of a story some guy in the desert told her once, somewhere around the first turn of the millenium.

 

“I’m your guardian angel!” PD suddenly proclaimed, an awkward, sweat-inducing silence following immediately after.

 

“Uh- _ huh… _ ” Steven nodded, not really in the mood to believe in fairy stories right then.

 

“So tell me,” PD continued, “What in the stars were you  _ doing _ out there, in the snow like that?”

 

“N-nothing.”

 

“You would be surprised how often that excuse works,” she chuckled, “But I’m not falling for it. So  _ what  _ were you doing?”

 

“I was...running away,” Steven muttered, a blanket of shame flowing over him. 

 

“Because of your mom?” PD asked, a tinge of vulnerability sneaking through her voice.

 

“Something like that…”

 

“I had something like a mother once,” PD told him, thoughtfully. “Three, actually. I never felt like they ever loved me, so I cut them off.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“I didn’t know how much they cared…” she mused, eyes watery.

 

“Well my family would be  _ much  _ better off without me…” Steven pouted, toying his french fry around in the sauce bowl.

 

“You know that’s not true.”

 

“It is!” Steven exclaimed, “If I wasn’t around, then Earth would be safe, the Gems would have my mom back and Connie wouldn’t be so  _ embarrassed  _ by me!”

 

“She is _not_ embarrassed by you,” PD insisted, “You _love_ _her,_ and _she_ loves you.”

 

_ “How could she love someone like me?!”  _ Steven shouted, not caring anymore about the attention it gained them. “I let Jasper get corrupted, I poofed and bubbled Bismuth away, I threw the Rubies out into space… _ Everything would be better if I was never born!” _

 

“Steven, you shouldn’t—”

 

“I wish I’d never been born!”

 

PD was taken aback by how hard it was to reach Steven; it pained her to see him like this. But it did give her an idea. She recalled Garnet’s patented Future Vision Kisses, and how it could show alternate versions of events so as to determine the best choices. Alas, she lacked future vision, but she did have access to Steven’s gem, which could still operate even if the boy’s human brain was unconscious. And humans could have pretty vivid dreams sometimes… It would take a lot of mental effort to keep going, but with her son’s happiness at stake, she could do anything. She owed him that much.

 

PD tapped the boy on the forehead, making him throw up his hands in defense.

 

“Hey!”

 

“There you go,” PD shrugged. “You’ve never been born!”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

“You’ve never been born! No more responsibility, no more Gems worrying about you, no more embarrassment! Everything you said you wanted!”

 

“I think I’m warmed up enough now,” Steven sighed. “Thank you—”

 

He turned to see the booth now empty, PD nowhere to be seen and his platter of fries gone from the table. He turned back around to see that the whole diner had been abandoned. Half the lights worked, and everything seemed dirtier than he remembered when he walked in. For some reason, he felt even colder than before.

 

“W-weird,” he shivered. “G-guess I better head back into town…”

 

Steven pushed open the door of the diner, bracing himself in the cold. He instinctively marched towards the lights of Beach City, which seemed to be somehow off that night, but he shrugged it off and kept going. He didn’t even notice the massive sign behind him, it’s large, harshly lit letters dwarfing the small diner.

 

_ NOW LEAVING HUMAN CONSERVATION ENCLOSURE #1A. ALL ORGANICS MUST REMAIN WITHIN WALLS. NO EXCEPTIONS. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be careful what you wish for, Steven. You may get it.
> 
> (Also happy birthday to my good friend, E350tb, who has helped tremendously with creative feedback)


	3. Chapter 3

As Steven made his way back into Beach City, he began to notice the derelict nature of the roads. They were cracked and overgrown (as overgrown as a road can get in the dead of winter), and showed signs of severe disuse. The Dewey administration couldn’t have gotten  _ that  _ bad at pothole removal, right?

 

On the road into Beach City, he passed by many houses, several of them boarded up and abandoned. The forest outside the city that had once been like a winter wonderland was now burnt and blackened, its trees seared down into the snow. Fearing something terrible had happened, Steven quickened his pace, running through the dead woods and down towards the boardwalk. The snow came in harder and harder, rendering visibility quite low, but Steven could make out the lights of Fish Stew Pizza, and made a beeline for them.

 

He burst through the door, shivering cold. Surprisingly, the shop was filled to the brim at this hour, with dozens of faces he didn’t recognize. He did see one face he knew; Peedee, standing behind the counter taking orders.

 

“No sir, you exceeded your limit an hour ago,” he told one, fairly drunken man at the counter.

 

“Ya...you...you don’t understand!” he slurrily replied. “I got, uh, a wife! And, uh, three kids!”

 

“You have one son.”

 

“YEAH! And he needs all the nourishment he can get at such a young age, ya know?”

 

“He’s 18.”

 

“Well that’s—” the man hiccuped, “That’s besides the point!”

 

“Mr. Dewey,” Peedee said firmly, “You know we don’t get another supply drop for three more weeks. This storm is already wearing us thin, so  _ please _ move aside?”

 

“Mayor Dewey?” Steven asked, his eyebrow rising in confusion. “What happened to you?”

 

“Wha?” Dewey reacted, blearily turning around in search of the voice he had just heard. He seemed quite disheveled, having traded in his mayoral suit for a worn winter jacket and scarf, in addition to an unkempt stubble. 

 

“Whazit to you, kid?” he asked. “I ain’t been mayor of  _ nothin’  _ for a while, now!”

 

As the apparently-ex-mayor marched out of the restaurant in a huff, Steven turned to Peedee at the counter and asked, “Peedee, what’re you doing working at Fish Stew Pizza? Fry Shop not pay enough?”

 

Peedee apparently didn’t find Steven’s remark amusing, and glared down at him from the counter with an uncharacteristic scowl. 

 

“Look kid, I don’t know who the hell you are, but the Fry Shop’s been gone for two years.”

 

“What? Peedee, don’t be silly.” Steven chuckled uncomfortably, not really  _ getting  _ the joke, but appreciating the attempt at humor all the same.“I got Fry Bits from you this morning!”

 

“I haven’t seen you before in my life,” Peedee dismissed, turning back to the line of customers. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have rations to give out.”

 

“But—” Steven tried to say before being forced out to the door by the crowd of strangers. Standing out in the cold, he looked up at the top of the building, and saw that the Fish Stew Pizza sign had been destroyed, replaced with a makeshift banner saying  _ “HUMAN SUSTENANCE DISTRIBUTED HERE.”  _

 

Directly to the right of Fish Stew Pizza, Steven saw the ruins of the Fry Shop, now merely a crater with what looked like an exploded Gem device in the center. Haunting, eerily recognizable shadows were burned into the surviving wall, and Steven suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

 

“This is...very bad...” Steven breathed, again struggling to shield himself from the cold. He then spotted something out in the distance. Or rather, a  _ lack  _ of something. A small fear tugged at his mind, and for the life of him he couldn’t shake it. He quickly ran down the boardwalk as fast as he could, trying to ignore the snow-filled craters splintering the wooden boards.

 

His fears grew darker, more suffocating as he got closer and closer to the hillside, noticing more and more condemned or burned out buildings. His heart sank as he passed the ruins of the Big Donut, his feet giving out as he saw that the hill that had stood at the end of the peninsula was now little more than a massive crater, with icy seawater sloshing over its sides. The Temple, his  _ home, _ was gone, as was the lighthouse. An echo of its former glory remained in the devastation. He fell to his knees in despair, crying out in denial.

 

_ “No, no, no!”  _ Steven screamed, “They can’t be gone! They  _ can’t!” _ He slid down into the crater in the vain hope that he could find survivors, but it became shockingly clear to him that whatever happened had happened  _ long _ before he ran off some hours earlier. Tears ran down Steven’s cheeks as he pounded at the frozen earth, desperate that his home was here,  _ somewhere.  _ A comforting hand fell onto his shoulder and he turned to see PD, still in her hood and trenchcoat, standing before him.

 

“I’m sorry,” was the first sentence out of her mouth. “I’m sorry you have to see all this.”

 

“But I…  _ I was just here!” _ Steven cried. “They… They  _ have _ to be alive!”

 

PD sighed, and knelt down to his level. She hated doing this, but he  _ needed  _ to see it. She’d had a long time to ponder what would have happened if not for Steven, and this was one of the  _ better _ scenarios she’d seen. It was for his own good, she told herself.

 

“I’m afraid they are,” she sighed, grimly knowing their fates. 

 

“But where are they?” the boy begged, tugging at her knees, “I need to find them!”

 

“You won’t like it…”

 

_ “Where?!” _

 

“The storage place. Your father…”

 

Before PD finished her sentence, Steven was off and running. He ran down the dark, unplowed streets, seeing wrecked building after wrecked building. Red, cone-shaped drones patrolled the streets, apparently scanning for human activity.

 

_ “HUMAN CURFEW IN FIVE MINUTES,”  _ one drone proclaimed,  _ “ALL VIOLATORS WILL BE TRANQUILIZED AND RETURNED TO THEIR DWELLING.” _

 

Steven passed by Funland, the sight of its current state stopping the boy dead in his tracks as his mouth gaped in shock. Funland, the bustling, summer fun-time amusement park, was gone. Funland, the place he used to spend almost every weekend at, was nothing but a collapsed pier, its destroyed Ferris Wheel sticking out of the water. Funland, the establishment that he had been banned from at least twice, was reduced to rubble.

 

His stunned silence was interrupted by Onion of all people, popping his head up out of the snowbanks.

 

“Onion?” Steven asked as the small boy, just as weird as he usual, smiled and walked towards him. “Wow, it’s, uh, good to see you?”

 

Onion nodded.

 

“Finally, someone knows who I am!” Steven praised, approaching the boy for a hug. Steven pulled Onion in for an embrace, only for Onion to knock him to the ground a few moments later and run off with his phone. 

 

“Hey!” Steven shouted, standing up.  _ “You pick-pocketed me!” _

 

Steven could make out the briefest of shrugs as Onion rounded the corner, making the 14-year-old groan in frustration. Feeling his hands go numb in the cold once again, he marched onwards through the snow, seeing the familiar facade of the U-Stor facility just down what used to be a road. 

 

Compared to the rest of the buildings in Beach City, U-Stor was probably in the best shape. All of the storage units were intact for the most part, although the electricity seemed to be out like the rest of the town. Still, many people had apparently made it their home, with many units transformed into makeshift living spaces. A trash can filled with burning refuse stood near a couple open ones, where he could see some more faces he knew standing around it.

 

“Buck? Sour Cream?  _ Sadie?” _ Steven asked as he approached the teens. “Jeez, it is  _ good  _ to see you guys.”

 

“Who’s the kid?” Buck asked, looking to his friends.

 

“I dunno, haven’t seen him before,” Sour Cream shrugged.

 

“Well don’t look at me,” Sadie defended. “The little twerp is new to me, too.”

 

The three looked haggard and tired, as if they’d seen some serious stuff that they just couldn’t shake.

 

“So little guy,” Buck laughed, “Where’d ya come from?  _ Ocean Town?” _

 

The two other teens laughed at that, before turning their attention back to Steven.

 

“I, um…” Steven trailed off, unsure of what to say.

 

“That’s okay,” Buck nodded. “It brings back bad memories for me, too.”

 

“Damn Gems,” Sadie cursed under her breath.

 

“Not this again…” Sour Cream muttered.

 

“Well if it weren’t for them, Lars would still be here, wouldn’t he?! And so would your mom, I bet! And how about our  _ darling _ Mr. Mayor?”

 

“Don’t start,” Buck warned.

 

“What? I’m right! If it weren’t for those bozos, the human race wouldn’t be a friggin’ endangered species!”

 

Steven felt himself steadily walk away as the argument continued, looking for someone,  _ anyone  _ else who could help him. Towards the end of the row of units, he found just that. A burnt-out husk of a van, sitting outside a cluttered, overflowing storage unit. Sitting around a small trash fire was a middle-aged fellow with long hair, idly strumming a guitar. The notes were familiar, like a lullaby one would hear as a child.

 

_ “I know I'm not that tall…” _ the man sang, stopping to cough and wheeze every so often, _ “I know I'm not that smart… But let me drive my van into your heart… _

 

_ “Let me drive my van into your heart…” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The world without Steven has not been kind to Beach City.
> 
> I promise a happy ending, I swear.


	4. Chapter 4

“Dad!” Steven exclaimed, running towards the forty-year-old man and leaping into a hug.

 

“I… Uh… Hi!” Greg nodded. “And what’s your name, kiddo?”

 

Steven’s smile faltered as his one glimmer of hope faded away. This Greg Universe, his  _ father  _ as Steven knew him, did not know the boy in the slightest. Still, despite the poorer living conditions due to...whatever had happened to Beach City, the man seemed to be just as cheerful as he remembered.

 

“I’m Steven! Your son!” Steven cried out, clinging to denial. “Please, I need to find the Gems. Something really bad’s happened and—”

 

“Whoa, whoa, there, uh, Steven,” Greg stammered as he tried to understand the child. “I’m sorry, but… I don’t know what you’re talking about. I mean, I know about Gems, but they haven’t been around here in years. You certainly wouldn’t have known ‘em.”

 

Steven stood for a few minutes staring at his would-be father as if he had just dealt a crippling betrayal.

 

“Amethyst!” he suddenly shouted, “She had short hair and was super hyper when you first met her! She and you used to watch Lil Butler together!”

 

“I…” 

 

“Pearl! She hated you because you and Mom were becoming a thing!”

 

“Uh, Steven, how—”

 

“Garnet!” Steven cried, his voice shaky, “She’s the fusion of Ruby and Sapphire and they weren’t gonna tell me until my birthday but then I found out when...when Jasper came to Earth and unfused them and they found each other and…”

 

Steven fell to his knees, tears beginning to stream down his face.

 

“And Rose! She...she was the love of your life! And you miss her a lot! Because she decided to give up her form to have me! And I got her gem and...and...and...”

 

Steven just trailed off from there, staring at the ice-covered concrete as his warm tears fell onto it, melting it ever-so-slightly. Greg just stood there, looking down in confusion at the boy who clearly knew too much to be making this up. He knelt down in front of Steven, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

 

“Let’s get you inside…”

 

\---

 

The inside of the storage unit hadn’t changed from when Steven knew it (before Pearl cleaned it out, that is). Boxes upon boxes lined the walls, in a maze that led to an old couch and television set in the back. A bluish glow illuminated the space, which was surprising considering the apparent lack of power in the town. As they walked closer to the TV, Steven could see a stack of old car batteries in the corner, jury-rigged to the set. A box of tapes sat next to it.

 

“Mr. Universe?” Steven heard a familiar voice ask. “I think the VCR stopped working.”

 

“Eh, that thing was getting old anyway,” Greg shrugged as he led Steven towards the back.

 

Steven, realizing who it was, ran past the man, and saw that it was none other than Connie Maheswaran sitting on the couch. A scar ran down her left eye, her right leg was amputated at the knee, and she seemed weaker than usual, but she was still Connie. 

 

“Uh, hi?” Connie shrugged.

 

“Hi…” Steven trailed off.

 

“Connie, this is Steven,” Greg introduced the two kids. “He’s...new around here.”

 

“New?” Connie asked. “They never give us any  _ new  _ people…”

 

“Well, uh—” Greg tried to say before Steven interrupted him.

 

“Guys…” Steven began, shaking his head. “I gotta know; what happened here?”

 

Connie snorted. “What, have you been living under a rock?”

 

“W-what?” Steven asked, surprised at Connie’s demeanor.

 

“Connie, be nice,” Greg scolded. “Steven deserves an explanation if he doesn’t know. And… I think I’m the best person around here to give it.”

 

Greg sat Steven down on the couch and flicked on an old gas lantern (probably unsafe, but now everything about Beach City was unsafe).

 

“It all began about ten years ago…” Greg began, wistfully looking up at the ceiling. “When  _ Homeworld  _ came…”

 

“Homeworld?!” Steven exclaimed. “But...but...we defeated them! We...we blew up their ship and everything!”

 

Connie blinked.

 

“Is this kid for real?” she asked, looking to Greg in bewilderment.

 

“Connie, please,” Greg sighed before continuing. He got down on one knee, looking Steven directly in the eye. “Rose and the Gems, well, they held them off the best they could… I don’t know how, but I guess they convinced the Diamonds to spare Beach City.”

 

“Wait,” Steven began, mulling over this explanation. “Does that mean…?”

 

“That the rest of the Earth is a strip-mined wasteland devoid of all life?” Connie interjected. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

 

_ “Well,” _ Greg said, taking back the conversation. “There might be other places that got saved, but... Yeah. We’re more or less on our own out here.”

 

“What happened to the Gems?” Steven asked.

 

“Sell-outs,” Connie muttered. 

 

_ “Connie!”  _ Greg shouted. 

 

“Well what else do you want me to call ‘em?!” the girl proceeded to erupt. “If they didn’t surrender then maybe I wouldn’t have gotten separated from my mom and dad!”

 

Greg raised his voice. “If they didn’t surrender, we probably wouldn’t be here!”

 

“Well I don’t see them helping us!” Connie shouted back, grabbing her makeshift cane (a wooden stick with a tennis ball shoved on the end) off the floor and forcing herself up.

 

Greg inhaled a quick breath, as if he was about to say something, but he had nothing. 

 

“I’m gonna go sit by the fire a bit,” Connie muttered, marching outside. “Nice meeting you, I guess…” she told Steven as she left. Steven stared at her in sheer horror at what this world had done to his friend.

 

“What...what  _ happened  _ to her?!” Steven asked, distraught.

 

“Her parents died in the attack,” Greg sorrowfully explained. “They weren’t in Beach City when the walls went up, so…”

 

Steven shuddered at the thought.

 

“But I try to give her a good life. The best I can, at least. We make do with what we got here. After all, if every porkchop were perfect…”

 

“We wouldn’t have hot dogs!” Steven exclaimed, his eyes lighting up at the phrase.

 

Before Greg could question how Steven knew that saying, a strong pink glow flashed in the corner of the storage unit, behind the stack of car batteries.

 

“What the—?” Greg asked as Steven dove towards the stack, pushing aside the batteries as he found the source of the light: Rose’s Laser Light Cannon.

 

"It’s mom’s light cannon! I… I can use this to get to the Gems!”

 

“Uh, Steven, I’m not sure that’s safe…” Greg warned.

 

“If every porkchop were perfect,” Steven began, hugging the cannon,  _ “WE WOULDN’T HAVE HOT DOGS!” _

 

The light cannon blasted a hole into the wall and ceiling, blowing away a clean chunk of concrete and throwing Steven into a stack of boxes.

 

“Steven! Are you okay?” Greg called out, rushing to his aid.

 

“Yeah, yeah I’m good,” Steven said as he stood back up, dusting off his hoodie.

 

A Homeworld drone then inspected the hole, scanning the room and spotting the light cannon.

 

_ “HELLO, [HUMAN SPECIMEN]. YOU ARE IN POSSESSION OF FORBIDDEN CONTRABAND. FOR THIS ACTION, YOUR SUSTENANCE RATIONS SHALL BE NULLIFIED FOR [ONE WEEK]. PLEASE REMAIN STILL AND SUBMIT TO IDENTITY SCANNING.” _

 

Against Greg’s protests, Steven stepped forward, the drone beginning to scan him.

 

_ “ERROR. ERROR. [HUMAN SPECIMEN] NOT IDENTIFIABLE IN HUMAN DATABASE. PLEASE DO NOT RESIST, AND PROCEED TO THE ZOOLOGICAL CENTER FOR FURTHER INSPECTION.” _

 

Before Steven could even grasp what was happening, he found himself suspended in a tractor beam, being carried through the hole and out of the storage unit. Greg tried to run after the drone, but it was too fast for him to keep up.

 

“Hey!” Steven shouted. “Hey, wait!”

The drone soared higher and higher above Beach City, flying over the torched forest, the crumbling highway and the abandoned diner, finally reaching the outskirts of the Human Conservation Enclosure. A mile-high, bright pink wall cut into the hillside, stretching out into the snowy haze on either side. As the drone flew up over the wall, Steven realized that it wasn’t just a wall; it was a massive dome covering the entirety of the town. A small hole opened up in the dome, sealing shut as soon as the drone and Steven got through. Steven then gasped at what he saw on the other side.

 

Earth was gone. Well, the Earth he knew was gone. The Americas, the oceans, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia… they were all nowhere to be seen. Safely enclosed in the tractor beam, the drone took him up out of what used to be the atmosphere, revealing a planet that had been reduced to miles-deep chasms.  _ Massive  _ Kindergartens on a scale he’d never seen before covered the colonized Earth, stripmining it completely. Beach City was truly the last uninhabitable place on the planet, and that was saying a  _ lot. _

 

Eventually, the drone arrived at its destination: The Moonbase. It released him from the tractor beam, dropping him on the cold floor of the base’s main hall He shivered even harder than before.

 

_ And I thought Beach City was cold,  _ Steven thought, his hands to the floor.

 

“Hey meatsack, whatcha doin’ here?” he heard a voice ask. He looked up, and saw another familiar face.

 

She was just as small as he remembered her, but wore a pink diamond on a Homeworld Quartz uniform. Her long hair was shorter, probably so she at least looked proportionally like a normal soldier, but he would know that round, purple face anywhere.

 

_ “Amethyst?!” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I PROMISED A HAPPY ENDING OKAY, THAT MEANS I CAN MAKE IT AS ANGSTY AS I WANT
> 
> Anyway, how's everyone's holiday season going?


	5. Chapter 5

“Get off me, ya turd,” Amethyst grunted, pushing Steven away.

 

“Amethyst, I—”

 

“J! L!” Amethyst called out to the other Amethyst guards stationed at the Moonbase. “We got another Zoo Case, prep this one for transport, I guess…”

 

“M, you got transport duty this time.”

 

“Ugh, fine!”

 

Amethyst summoned her whip and nonchalantly lashed it at the boy, wrapping him up in a coil and dragging him to a Roaming Eye parked over by the stairs.

 

“Uh, your whip is pretty tight on me,” Steven tried to point out to the small quartz. “Could you, maybe…?”

 

“No,” Amethyst replied, tossing Steven on board the ship and climbing behind the controls.

 

“Hey, fat-ass controller,” she said over the comm, “Permission to fly this tub into the sun.”

 

“Again, 8XM,” a Peridot-sounding voice said back, “That is not proper communications procedure. And furthermore, no, permission denied.”

 

“Drat, I was really hoping you’d say yes this time,” Amethyst sighed. “Setting course for Zoo, blah, blah, blah…”

 

The Roaming Eye’s Gravity Engine powered on, and soon they were blasting away at lightspeed. Steven sat on the floor, still wrapped up in Amethyst’s whip, attempting to squirm near her.

 

“Don’t even think about it, numb-nuts,” Amethyst warned. “The Zoo doesn’t like escape artists.”

 

“I’m not trying to escape, I’m trying to get closer to you!”

 

“And why would you want to do that?” Amethyst sighed. “To poof me and take control of the ship? Go back to Earth? Try to go back to Beach Town? Live with the humans again? Been there, tried that.”

 

“It’s Beach City,” Steven corrected, still laying on the floor, “But I was just trying to get closer to you so I could  _ talk  _ to you!”

 

Amethyst laughed a bitter laugh. “No one talks to me, kid. Well, the other Amethysts try to, but...eh. I’m just lookin’ out for number one now. Me!”

 

“You can’t just care about yourself! The Amethyst I know wouldn’t do that!”

 

“Well I dunno what Amethyst you knew, but she sure ain’t this one.  _ This _ Amethyst didn’t want to fight a Jasper three times her size in a hopeless battle.  _ This  _ Amethyst didn’t want to see Rose friggin’ Quartz give herself up to Homeworld.  _ This  _ Amethyst didn’t want to  _ watch  _ as the Earth was destroyed in the years after,  _ and this Amethyst didn’t want to be saved only to be forced to serve the guys who killed seven billion humans!” _

 

“Amethyst…”

 

“So  _ shut up!”  _ the quartz snapped, taking the ship out of warp. “We’re here.”

 

Before Steven knew it, he was being dragged through the Zoo’s hangar bay, stopping only when the guards (also wearing pink diamonds on their uniforms) tried to strike up a conversation with Amethyst.

 

“Hey, 8XM! Long time, no see!”

 

“No chit-chat, Chip, I got a human here who’s being transferred or whatever. Just take him off my hands, will ya?”

 

“Sure! Uh, there’s a wrestling match today in the barracks if you—”

 

Before any of them knew it, Amethyst was back on the Roaming Eye, about to take off.

 

“Wait, Amethyst!” Steven desperately called out, but she was already gone, her whip dematerializing around him as the ship went to warp just outside the hangar.

 

“Alright,” Chip, the dark reddish Amethyst, shrugged, “Let’s get him through processing...”

 

As Steven was dragged down the hallway, he squirmed and struggled as much as he could, vainly attempting to get free. He didn’t know where he would run, he didn’t know how he could survive in a world like this, but he knew he couldn’t end up wherever it was the Amethysts were taking him. Thinking fast, he summoned his bubble, throwing the Amethysts to the floor.

 

“Sorry!” Steven called out as he quickly ran down the hallway, ducking around a corner. 

 

An alarm began to sound, and Steven looked around desperately for a place to hide. He then spotted a cracked-open door off in an alcove, and darted towards it without a second thought. The boy squeezed himself through the crack, pushing his chubby body through as hard as he could. Eventually, he made it in, falling flat onto the cold tile floor. He would have shivered (for what was probably the thousandth time that day) but he became distracted by the sound of someone crying.

 

“H-hello?” he asked quietly into the darkness.

 

“...Who’s there?” a sad, shaky voice said back. He recognized it, somehow.

 

A blue Gem emerged from the shadows, short with an equally-blue dress. At the center of the garment, however, was a pink diamond; plastered on like a sticker and looking utterly out of place. A single 

 

“Sapphire!” Steven exclaimed, rushing forward and hugging the future-seer tightly. “Oh I’m so glad you’re alright…”

 

“You’re...you’re a human…”

 

“Uh…” Steven muttered, realizing once again that nobody knew who he was. “Y-yeah, I… I escaped, I guess… What were you crying about?”

 

“It’s...it’s stupid, I should go.”

 

“No, tell me!” Steven insisted as Sapphire stood up and approached the door.

 

“No, it’s… It does not matter anymore.”

 

Steven took in a breath and sighed. He was probably gonna regret this.

 

“Is it about Ruby?”

 

Sapphire was silent for what felt like forever, before finally speaking.

 

“How?” she asked him, her voice cold.

 

“W-what?”

 

_ “How do you know about her?!”  _ she screamed, her voice cracking as tears flowed from her eye.

 

“...Lucky guess?”

 

“I bet it was Amethyst, wasn’t it?”

 

“No, no it wasn’t—”

 

_ “Is nothing sacred?!”  _ she continued, completely ignoring Steven. “First  _ Rose  _ and her  _ lies,  _ then...then I  _ lose  _ the one thing I ever loved…” Sapphire was almost sobbing now. “And now I guess she’s become like the rest of them. Going on about the  _ Earth Fusion…  _ At least Pearl  _ has _ to keep her mouth shut now. Must be nice.”

 

Before Steven could respond, the door opened, revealing two Amethysts standing with their weapons drawn.

 

“Oh, our apologies, Your Clarity,” they said, quickly placing their hands in a Diamond Salute.

 

“Not a problem,” Sapphire sniffed, hiding her tears. “I… I found this human outside of the containment area.”

 

“Yes,” the Amethyst nodded. “Human,  _ Pink Diamond  _ would like to see you.”

 

“W-what?” was all Steven could say before getting dragged off once more.

 

\---

 

Steven was thrown onto the shiny, magenta floor, the massive doors shutting behind him. Getting himself up off the floor, he looked up and saw hundreds of pink bubbles, floating about the dazzlingly pink room. A large empty pillow sat towards the back, which Steven figured was for Pink Diamond.

 

His thoughts were interrupted by someone emerging from the shadows, making him gasp in shock. She was tall, bright white, and wore an unflinching smile on her face. Otherwise she would be utterly unrecognizable, but the oval Gem on her forehead gave her away, and Steven’s heart broke on the spot.

 

_ “Pearl?!”  _ he choked, wanting desperately to feel her warm embrace, but upon attempting to hug her, he felt nothing but an icy cold surface, just barely even alive.

 

“Pearl…” he cried, “Pearl, I’m sorry! I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop Homeworld, I’m sorry the Earth’s gone and Ruby’s probably shattered and Amethyst’s miserable and you’re...and you’re…”

 

“Broken,” he heard a voice say behind him. He turned around and saw not Pink Diamond, but PD, the mysterious woman from before, standing in the middle of the room.

 

_ “You?” _ Steven asked, running to her desperately, “Please,  _ please,  _ I don’t want to be here anymore! I don’t want a world that’s like this, I want a world with my friends, and my family and Beach City and Earth and everyone being happy and…”

 

“And what, Steven?”

 

_ “I wanna live!”  _ he shouted at the top of his lungs, tears pouring down his cheeks. “I want to live in a world where, where  _ I exist!  _ Because...because…”

 

“Because?” PD urged on, a smile beginning to creep across her face.

 

“Because without me the Earth would be destroyed?”

 

“No,” PD said, shaking her head, “Because every person adds something unique and special to this universe. Without you, something joyful, something proud, something  _ wonderful  _ is gone. You have to learn that, or else…” She sighed and looked up at the pink bubbles, as if wistfully remembering something. “Or else you’ll regret it.”

 

“But it’s  _ hard!  _ Why am  _ I _ the one who has to save the world? Why do  _ I  _ have to get thrown out airlocks or beat up by Quartz soldiers? Why am  _ I  _ the one with the magical destiny?!”

 

He looked at her in anguish, with all the rage, all the self-loathing and all the pain of his life working it’s way into every

 

“Everyone either hates me for being my mom, or wants me to be my mom and… Why… Why can’t they just love me, for  _ me?”  _

 

Steven was staring at his feet now, his voice down to a sad murmur.

 

“Oh Steven…” PD nodded, placing a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “They always did.”

 

Steven looked up, and saw that PD had disappeared. He looked up at the bubbles just as she did, and thought about what she had said. He remembered all the times his dad helped him with music, or the Gems helped him learn his powers, or he had fun hanging out with Connie, or made a Beach City tourist smile with a brightened day. and regretted a world where he didn’t get to make people happy anymore. He wanted to keep going, not just for them, but for himself, and the joy just waking up in the morning used to give him.

 

“I guess…” he said to himself, realizing the truth in PD’s words. “I guess life is worth living for…”

 

He wanted to go back to Earth,  _ his  _ Earth, and see his friends and family again. He wanted to keep living that life as long as he could live it. He just wanted to go  _ home. _

 

Rose agreed, and made it so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter left, and I promise it's a happy one :D


	6. Chapter 6

_ “Hey. Hey, kid. Kid? You dead?” _

 

Steven’s eyes shot open, suddenly finding himself face-down in a platter of fries. He quickly forced himself upright, some particularly cheesy fries sticking to his face. He looked around, and realized where he was. He was back in the diner, where his “guardian angel” had taken him after saving her from falling.

 

“Oh thank goodness,” the waitress sighed, poking him with a fry.

 

“Where...where am I?!” Steven frantically asked, hesitant feelings of hope filling his soul.

 

“You passed out a minute ago. Dunno where that lady went…”

 

“Lady?” Steven asked, before realizing who she meant. He looked across the table, where a napkin sat in front of him, scribbled on with handwriting he swore he had seen before.

 

_ “For Steven,”  _ it began, containing only one, simple message:  _ “Never forget who you are.” _

 

_ “P.S. Don’t forget to tip.” _

 

Steven began laughing, at first a simple chuckle, but it quickly morphed into a cackling holler of delight.

 

“I’m back!” he cried out, hopping atop the booth in pure happiness. “Everything’s back!”

 

He hugged the waitress as tears of joy flowed down his cheeks. “She did it, she really did it! I don’t know how, but P.D. did it!”

 

Before the waitress could question who “P.D.” was or what she did, Steven pulled reached into his pocket and threw over a dozen assorted dollar bills her way.

 

“Thanks for the fries!” Steven shouted as he bolted out the door, jumping into the air with glee. “Happy winter!”

 

The waitress found herself smiling as well as she picked up her generous tip, the boy’s enthusiasm infectious.

 

“Happy winter!” she shouted back. “And don’t catch cold! Crazy kid…”

 

\---

 

Steven ran as quickly as he could down the highway, so happy he felt like he could just jump into the air and fly— and as he quickly remembered, he  _ could!  _ Soaring upwards into the clouds, Steven took in the beauty of the night. To the north, he could see the lights of Wilmingmore, and to the west, Charm City. To the south, he could see the coastline of beach towns stretching out as far as he could see. The Earth...it was  _ here,  _ it was  _ back.  _ Whatever what he saw was, it wasn’t real. Homeworld did  _ not _ destroy the Earth, his family did  _ not  _ get forced into Diamond servitude, and his friends were probably all back in their homes, peacefully enjoying the snowy evening. His dad was still his dad, his best friend was still his best friend, and Beach City was still Beach City.

 

Steven looked to the east, and saw the familiar peninsula jutting out into the ocean (Goodness, the  _ oceans  _ were still there!) Controlling his fall back to Earth, he set down just outside Beach City, and by the stars, everything looked so much more  _ amazing. _ The forest that had been burned to a crisp looked like a winter wonderland, evergreens as far as the woods could grow. Lights glowed from each and every one of the buildings, and in the distance he could make out the familiar sight of the cliffside lighthouse, shining as bright as ever. Off to the side, the lights of Funland shone brighter than any star, any moon, anything, filling Steven to the brim with even  _ more  _ excitement.

 

“Woo-hoo!” Steven shouted, his fists shooting into the air.  _ “Beach City!” _

 

He ran down the boardwalk, past the bright neon signs of Beach Citywalk Fries and Fish Stew Pizza and that T-shirt shop nobody liked and onwards past the Big Donut and around the cliffside and by the mailbox—  _ his  _ mailbox —until he saw the familiar sight of a stone hand jutting out of the beachside.

 

“The Temple!” he proclaimed, stars in his eyes, “It’s still here! Stars, it’s  _ still here! Everything’s here!”  _

 

He could look up and see their surprisingly-weather-proof washer/dryer sitting atop the Temple’s hand, and could look farther down the beach to see his father’s van sitting just at the base of his house. 

 

_ His house! _

 

The beach house stood as it always did, at the base of the Temple, built with wood around the rock exterior of the figure’s hands. And never before did it look so wonderful. He ran up the familiar, well-worn, snow-covered steps up to the front porch, swinging open the door with an eagerness he hadn’t felt since he first moved in.

 

“Guys!” Steven shouted, seeing everyone— the Gems, his dad, Connie, her parents, his friends from all over town —standing around in idle worry.

 

_ “Steven!”  _ they all shouted back, rushing forward and pulling the boy into a hug. 

 

“Are you okay?” Pearl asked, “Did you catch cold? Do I need to fetch you a blanket?”

 

“Dude, don’t scare us like that again!” Amethyst told him, “Or else I’m  _ definitely  _ punching you fifteen times on your next birthday.”

 

“Kiddo, is there anything you wanna talk about?” Greg asked, a hand on his shoulder.

 

“No, no,” Steven smiled, shaking his head. He looked around and remembered just how lucky he was to have a family as loving as this, to have a life as amazing as this. He began tearing up again. “Everything’s great. I…”

 

“Steven,” Garnet began, kneeling down and looking him in the eye. “I hope that you found what it was that you were looking for.”

 

“...I did,” Steven nodded. “I found all of you.”

 

“Well you took quite the scenic route,” Amethyst snorted. “We were searching for you for hours! Where on Earth were you?”

 

Steven paused. He looked out beyond the crowd and saw Connie, sitting alone with her birthday cake as everyone focused on him.

 

“With a friend,” he nodded, walking past the Gems and over to Connie. She looked up at him, and before she knew it, she was wrapped in her own personal Steven hug. As the embrace grew tighter, his gem began to glow, eventually engulfing the two and leaving a very giddy Stevonnie behind.

 

“Uh...hi?” Stevonnie said once their laughter had subsided.

 

Doug and Priyanka stood in stunned silence at the fusion, until Greg— smooth as ever —pulled out his guitar and began playing a rockin’ tune. The partygoers shrugged and continued on with the party, some dancing to the music and some chatting it up with Stevonnie, who subsequently started dancing to the music themself.

 

As the fusion danced, filled with Steven and Connie’s joy, Rose sat inside their gem, sprawled out in the pink mindscape, totally at ease. She let out a sigh of contented relief, looking up at the pink sky.

 

And she simply watched the clouds go by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, I told ya I'd give you a happy ending :)
> 
> Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays in general, ya beautiful gems!

**Author's Note:**

> Steven needs a hug. Anyone else in agreement?


End file.
